Betrayals Stand (MidKnight Blue Book 5)

by Sherryl Hancock

  “Yes.”

  “Was she aware of your previous sexual relationship with your partner?”

  Joe narrowed his eyes at the DA, not because of the question, but because the idea of this type of laundry being aired for the press pissed him off. “Yes.”

  Cruz once again looked surprised. It took him a full minute to recover this time. “Have you and your partner been together that way since you’ve been married?”

  Joe looked to Midnight, who was sitting with Rick. She was looking straight at him, and when their eyes met, she gave him an imperceptible nod. Joe could see that she was holding tightly to Rick’s hand, and he knew what her nod meant.

  “Yes,” he said calmly.

  “You’ve had a sexual relationship with your partner while you were married to Randy Curtis?”

  “Yes.”

  “Was Ms. Curtis aware of this?”

  “When?”

  “Excuse me?”

  “Was she aware of it when?”

  “Before Lieutenant Chevalier was attacked.”

  “No.”

  “Was she aware of it at any time before you were abducted?”

  “Yes.”

  “When?”

  “Three days after Midnight was assaulted.”

  “So it is plausible to say that your wife was angry enough then to want you dead?”

  “No.”

  “She knew you had an affair with your partner, and you don’t think that made her mad?”

  “Mad, yes—murderous, no.”

  “Well, we don’t really know that, do we?”

  “Is that a question?”

  “No. This incident at the range—you said that the range master wasn’t aware of the ammunition loaded into Ms. Curtis’ weapon?”

  “That’s correct.”

  “How would someone manage to load ammunition into a department-issued weapon without the range master knowing?”

  Joe shook his head. “It’s pretty easy, considering the cadets take their weapons home at night—since Dickerson was at the apartment constantly, it would have been easy to change the ammunition.”

  “Wouldn’t it be fair to say that anyone could have done that, then?”

  “I guess, but who else would want to?”

  “Maybe Ms. Curtis herself?”

  “Randy?” Joe said, having to hold back a laugh. “Until the academy, she barely knew which end of an ammunition magazine went into a gun, let alone how to load it and what ammunition to use to make the gun do what it did.”

  “But it’s possible?”

  “It’s possible, but then you could have loaded it that way too,” Joe said sarcastically.

  “Let me assure you, I didn’t. Now, Sergeant, you said that you didn’t think Randy gave Sergeant Dickerson the security code to your house?”

  “Yes.”

  “That’s a pretty high-tech security system you have. How else would Sergeant Dickerson have gotten the code?”

  “Well, there was the day I came home and found Randy and Dickerson at the house. He could have easily looked over her shoulder when she punched in the code to get in.”

  “What were they doing there?”

  Joe shrugged. “Getting some of her things, I guess.”

  “Couldn’t she have been showing him the layout of the house, to make it easier for him to have you abducted?”

  “I guess.”

  “How did you react to your wife and her boyfriend in your house?”

  “I threatened to kill him,” Joe said tonelessly.

  “That’s a pretty strong statement to make.”

  “I felt pretty strongly about it when I made it.”

  “Do you still want to kill Sergeant Dickerson?”

  Joe’s eyes flicked over to Randy, then back to Cruz. “If he was putting your wife through what he’s putting Randy through, wouldn’t you?”

  Cruz didn’t answer, but Joe noted that many heads in the courtroom nodded. His eyes went to Randy again, and she smiled weakly at him.

  “You said that it bothered you that Ms. Curtis hadn’t told you about the attack on Lieutenant Chevalier?”

  “Yes.”

  “Is it possible that she didn’t tell you because she had a lot more to do with it than she wanted to admit to you?”

  “If she’d had much more to do with it, Midnight would have told me. It was because Randy’s participation in the incident was so inconsequential that my partner felt it wasn’t important. I trust Midnight’s judgement.”

  “With your life?” Cruz asked pointedly.

  “Implicitly.”

  Joe and Midnight exchanged a look, and the rest of the courtroom watched.

  “You said that Sergeant Dickerson admitted to trying to kill Lieutenant Chevalier. Why would he admit that to you?”

  “Because he had a gun pointed at my head, and he figured I wouldn’t be around to testify.”

  “Yet here you are.”

  “Yes.”

  “And how did you escape this drug cartel house? I thought it was a major cartel and that they had armed men guarding it, twenty-four hours a day.”

  “I guess they didn’t figure on Dickerson.”

  “In what way?”

  “That he’s a lousy shot anyway, and when he gets mad, he’s worse.”

  “Could you explain that to the court, Sergeant?” the judge asked, wanting this information clarified for the jury.

  “The room they had me in down in Mexico had a window, but it was double-paned, too hard to break with my bare hands. Dickerson kept coming in and trying to push me, trying to make me mad. But the first time he tried to shoot me, I had turned the tables on him and his shot went wide and to the right. I noted that, and hours later when he was at it again, I goaded him into trying to shoot me again. That time he managed to shoot out the window, so I could dive through it.”

  The judge nodded, almost smiling at Joe’s ingenuity.

  “When you and your wife were abducted four years ago, did you at any time see Sergeant Dickerson with these people, the Scorpions?”

  “No.”

  “And you just happened to remember now that Sergeant Dickerson was the one to call you, after all this time?”

  “I didn’t remember. Dickerson reminded me.”

  “Okay.” Cruz nodded. “One last question, Sergeant. It’s obvious to everyone in this room that you love your wife very much. Isn’t it possible that your love of her is blinding you to the possibility that she wanted you dead?”

  “I think if she wanted me dead, she had plenty of opportunities to do it herself.”

  “Thank you, Sergeant. No further questions.”

  Joe was dismissed. He stood and walked out. Outside the courtroom, he leaned heavily against the wall. He heard the door open beside him and glanced down. Midnight was there looking at him, with Rick right behind her.

  “I’m sorry,” Joe said to them both.

  “About what?” Midnight said. “That we had sex, or that you had to admit it?”

  Joe grinned at the wry tone in her voice. “Let me see,” he said, looking up at the ceiling. “If I say both, I’m dead. If I say the first one, I’m dead. So I guess I’ll go with number two, Your Honor.”

  Midnight laughed, shaking her head. “I figured it’d come out sooner or later. The people that should have known”—she glanced back at Rick—“knew long before now. No harm, no foul.”

  “I guess,” Joe said uncertainly.

  “You think it hurt Randy’s case?” Midnight asked, raising an eyebrow.

  “Don’t you think so?”

  “I think Cruz thought he was going to surprise someone with the information.”

  “Like who?”

  “Like Nick,” Midnight said. “Like you, so you’d stumble or lose your cool.”

  Joe nodded. “This court shit is certainly nasty business.”

  “Yes, it is, but fortunately we’re usually on the other side.”

  “Yeah…” Joe trailed off, chagr
ined at having to be on the defense.

  “I heard Nick’s putting Randy on the stand next,” Midnight said, her tone forcibly light.

  “Where’d you hear that?”

  “Nick.”

  “I don’t want her up there. The DA’ll crucify her.”

  “Joe, she got herself into this mess, and she’s a big girl. She can get herself out.”

  Joe nodded slowly, hoping she was right.

  The court adjourned after Joe’s testimony. Randy declined Nick’s offer to take her to lunch. She was too nervous. She knew she would be on the stand after the break, and it terrified her. She’d never been questioned before; more importantly, she’d never been cross-examined by a Deputy District Attorney. Nick had warned her that it would probably be brutal, but he was sure that if the jury could see how sincere Randy was in her regret, it would be the trick to turn the jury to their side.

  Randy sat with her arms resting on the table as she looked over the questions Nick planned to ask her. They’d gone over them again and again, but she was still afraid she would freeze up. Her hands shook with her nervousness. She just wanted all of this to be over. She jumped when someone came up behind her and was further surprised when a hand wearing a distinctly familiar signet ring reached out to take hers.

  Randy looked up, and Joe smiled down at her. He pulled her to her feet and took her in his arms. Randy couldn’t believe he was holding her again. She buried her face against his chest, breathing in the smell of him. He kissed the top of her head, and she felt the urge to grab his hand and run out of the courtroom and never come back. But she knew the idea wasn’t realistic.

  “How’re you doin’?” Joe asked softly.

  Randy smiled. “Better now that you’re here with me.”

  A pained look crossed Joe’s face. “Randy, I’m sorry I couldn’t be there over this last month, but they kept telling me it would prejudice your case, and I couldn’t take that chance.”

  Randy shook her head, looking up into his light blue eyes. “You were here today, and that’s something I never expected.”

  “Why?” Joe looked perplexed. “You didn’t think I actually believed all that crap, did you?”

  Randy shrugged, lowering her eyes from his. His finger under her chin brought them back up.

  “I love you, Randy. I wasn’t just saying that for the court reporter, you know.”

  Randy was silent for a moment, not sure what to say. “I just… When you got back from Ensenada the first time, when you looked at me, I knew he’d told you about Midnight, but you didn’t say anything.” She shrugged again. “I guess I figured you just didn’t want to discuss it with me because you believed it.”

  Joe looked at her seriously for a moment. “I didn’t talk to you about it because I didn’t really know what I thought. I knew that you weren’t a part of Dickerson’s plan, but I also knew that for a while there you turned into someone I didn’t know. I just wasn’t sure, Randy.”

  Randy nodded, understanding what he was saying and loving him for being honest with her. “I guess I did leave a lot to be considered those days, didn’t I?”

  “You were a little weird, yes,” he said, grinning down at her.

  Randy returned the grin. “I know, and we’re still looking for that pod, right?”

  “You got it,” Joe said, smiling brilliantly at her. He reached out and pulled her to him, hugging her close. He leaned down, his lips touching hers gently. Randy responded immediately, but in more of a soft, romantic way than with passion. They both knew this wasn’t the place or the time. Their kiss lingered for a few long moments, and when it ended they stared into each other’s eyes. Their look said all the things their minds didn’t want to think about. Neither of them noticed the news camera operator sitting in the far corner of the courtroom, taping the whole exchange.

  Eventually they sat down and talked about Randy being put on the stand.

  “I’m scared, Joe,” Randy said honestly.

  Joe nodded, understanding her trepidation. “Look, the important thing is to stick to what you and Nick have talked about.”

  Randy nodded. “It’s not Nick I’m worried about though.”

  “I know, but you have to keep one thing in mind when you’re cross-examined.”

  “What’s that?”

  “Give the shortest answers possible. Don’t give the guy any more information than he asks for.”

  “Like you?” she said, grinning.

  “Yes,” Joe said, as if demonstrating. “When he asks you the question, think to yourself, can I answer this with a yes or no? If you can, do it. Don’t let him make you mad, don’t let him get to you, because if he does, he’s going to get you to say something you didn’t mean to, and that’s how he’ll convict you. Okay?” Joe was watching her solemnly.

  “I can do this,” Randy said.

  “I know you can.”

  “Will you be here?” she asked, suddenly concerned he’d leave.

  “I’ll be right there.” Joe pointed to the bench behind them.

  Randy nodded at him, her eyes wide.

  “Baby, just remember you’ve been through worse.”

  “I have?”

  “Randy! Remember San Ysidro? Daniel Robbins, all that?”

  Randy closed her eyes, grinning, then looked at Joe. “I guess I didn’t consider that as bad, because I knew you’d get us out of it. This time though…”

  “You’ll get out of it yourself, Randy.”

  This time it was Randy who drew hope from his faith in her. It had all come full circle.

  Time seemed to pass in the blink of an eye, and before Randy knew it, court had reconvened. Joe did exactly as he had said he would and sat right behind her. She could feel his presence, and drew from it.

  Nick recalled Midnight to ask her about the time Randy and Sarah had come to her office. Midnight explained that Randy had been asking about an accident she’d heard Joe had been involved in, but that Sarah Dickerson had tried to turn everything into an issue about her and Joe and the rest of FORS not being Randy’s friends. She also told him that Sarah had insinuated that she knew all about her and Joe. Nick asked why Midnight hadn’t brought this incident up when they had talked, and Midnight said that she’d actually forgotten about it until Joe brought it up. Cruz had no further questions.

  Randy knew what was next. Even so, when the judge asked Nick to call his next witness and Nick said, “The defense calls Randissi Curtis-Sinclair,” she felt her stomach tighten. Standing, she glanced back at Joe. His eyes were on her, and he nodded. She moved to the witness box. She was sworn in and sat down.

  “Randy,” Nick said, his voice friendly. “For the record, you are the wife of Sergeant Joseph Sinclair. Is that correct?”

  “Yes.”

  “How long have the two of you been married?”

  “Just under four years now.”

  “How old were you when you met Sergeant Sinclair?”

  “Nineteen.”

  “And you worked for him—is that true?”

  “Yes. I was hired as his secretary.”

  Nick looked surprised. Of course, he wasn’t, but he wanted the jury to understand how young she had been when they’d met and married. He looked over at Joe and then back to Randy. “Sergeant Sinclair must have seemed larger than life to you then.”

  “He was, believe me,” Randy said, sounding young still.

  “Did he sweep you off your feet right away?”

  “I would have liked him to, but no, he was already involved with someone else then.”

  “Lieutenant Chevalier?”

  “No, someone totally different.”

  “So he wasn’t dating his partner when you met? How did you find out about their relationship?”

  “Well, it was obvious to me that she and Joe were very close. Joe was going through a very rough time when I met him—Midnight was trying to help him through it. But it was really Midnight that told me about her and Joe’s unique relationship.” />
  “Unique how?”

  “Well, they were very close friends, and sometimes, when things got too intense, or one or the other of them needed someone, they’d be there for each other, in every way…” She trailed off, not wanting to cheapen Joe and Midnight’s relationship.

  “By every way, you mean in terms of sex?” Nick asked, his look pointed.

  “No, not just sex. I realized that it meant just being there to reach out and hold each other, or offer the other a kiss, or a caress, when they needed it most. It wasn’t just sex for them. In fact, Joe told me a lot later that it really didn’t have to do with sex. Just that sometimes they needed to be as close as two people could get, because they had no one else that they trusted enough to open up to in that way.”

  “And what changed that?”

  “Well, Midnight found Rick, and Joe found me.”

  “So they discontinued their relationship, at least sexually, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “When did you think they were having an affair?”

  “I only thought that when I applied at the department and Joe was against it.”

  “Let’s address that, then. You said you applied with the department—as a police officer, right?”

  “Yes.”

  “And your husband was against it?”

  “Yes.”

  “Why?”

  “Joe lost his parents to violence, and I guess he was afraid he’d lose me the same way.”

  “Did he threaten to leave you if you went through with your application?”

  “No, he didn’t.”

  “But you ended up leaving him. Why?”

  “Because I thought he was having an affair with Midnight.”

  “And you decided that at what point?”

  Randy nodded. “I guess I let Sarah talk me into the idea of them having an affair, but I don’t want to say it was all her fault. She was reacting to my discontent over Joe’s lack of support. I let her talk me into it. She didn’t make me think it.”

  “So you don’t think Sarah Dickerson was trying to set you up with her brother?”

  “No, I think Dick just saw an opportunity and grabbed it.”

  “Randy, why did you want to become a police officer?”